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Font Installation in Windows 95/98/ME Font Installation in Windows 2000/XP Font Installation in Mac OS Classic Font Installation in Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Installing PostScript, TrueType and OpenType Fonts

A PostScript font consists of a Suitcase File and a Printer File. If you have a font family, you may have one suitcase for the whole family and up to four printer files — one for each style — regular, italic, bold and bold italic. Some manufacturers also include AFM files that can be used by some old applications.

A TrueType font and an OpenType font consists of one Suitcase file.

You may install fonts by means of operating system or with the help of font management utilities. To install with a font management applications like Adobe Type Manager, Suitcase or Font Reserve, please consult the product manual.

Font installation on Mac is a simple drag and drop operation.

  1. Close any open applications before installing fonts. New fonts do not appear in the font menu in some applications, if you install them while an application is open.
  2. Open the folder with fonts to install.
  3. Select the font suitcases and PostScript printer files for the fonts you want to install.
    (You do not need to install any .AFM file that might be included.)
    Make sure you are selecting fonts themselves, not a folder containing fonts.
  4. Drag the selection to the Fonts folder inside the Library folder (see details below) on Mac OS X disk.

If you want fonts to be available to applications running in Classic mode, you must also install the fonts into the Fonts folder inside the Classic System Folder.

Details:
Mac OS X has five general places where fonts can be installed:
Type of Use Font Folder Font Description
User <UserHome>/Library/Fonts/ Fonts located in this folder are available to a user, but are not available to other users who log into the same machine.
Local /Library/Fonts Fonts located in this folder are available to all local users of the machine. Only a user with Administrator rights can modify the contents of this folder. This folder is where Apple suggests applications should install shared fonts.
Network /Network/Library/Fonts Fonts located in this folder are shared among all users on a local area network. Typically this folder is used on a file server controlled by a network administrator.
System /System/Library/Fonts Fonts located in this folder are required by Mac OS X for System use and display. Mac OS X requires these fonts, and as such it is not recommended that the contents of this folder should be removed or altered in any manner.
Classic /System Folder/Fonts Fonts in this folder are used by the Classic environment. These fonts are available to Mac OS X applications even if the Classic environment is not running. Fonts located outside this folder are not available to Classic applications. Mac OS X does not require these fonts, but will make them available to OS X applications. Please note that this "System Folder" should not be confused with the Mac OS X "System" folder.

Note: Mac OS X has no limit on the quantity of active fonts, but Classic environment has a limit of 128 to 500 (depending upon the user).